Noticing Cheng Baichuan’s nervousness, Li Wanqing thought of a topic to distract him.
“Are Commander Yu and the commander-in-chief looking for you these past two days to discuss your return to the army?”
Cheng Baichuan nodded absentmindedly.
“After I return to my unit this time, my position may be changed.”
Li Wanqing was slightly surprised.
“Will you be leaving your current military district?”
“The specific reassignment hasn’t been announced yet, but one thing is certain. I won’t be transferred out of my current military district.”
Cheng Baichuan stared straight at the ceiling, desperately trying to ignore the sensation against his skin.
Li Wanqing glanced at him and almost burst out laughing.
He wasn’t afraid of charging into battle, so why was he afraid of a little massage?
“That’s good!”
Li Wanqing patted her chest and deliberately let out an exaggerated sigh of relief.
“We’re moving into the family compound tomorrow. I was really worried that if you got transferred, we’d have to move all over again.”
“Don’t worry. That won’t happen.”
Cheng Baichuan was distracted by her reaction, and his body gradually relaxed.
“Even if we do move, I’ll find someone to handle it. You don’t have to worry.”
“Moving is a huge undertaking. Even with someone helping, it’s still a troublesome process.”
In her previous life, Li Wanqing had moved almost every year when she was growing up because of her parents’ job transfers.
As a result, she had hardly made any friends during her childhood and teenage years.
So to her, moving wasn’t merely troublesome. It also represented instability.
The two of them chatted about this and that until the massage was finally over.
Only then did Cheng Baichuan completely relax.
Li Wanqing gulped down a mouthful of water.
This job was hard on both her hands and her voice.
She had talked so much that her mouth was dry and her throat felt like it was on fire.
The look Cheng Baichuan gave her carried a hint of indescribable tenderness.
“Thank you.”
Cheng Baichuan lowered his eyes slightly, hiding the emotions in them.
He could tell that Li Wanqing genuinely cared about him.
But there was one thing missing from her eyes—romantic affection.
He couldn’t tell whether he should feel disappointed or relieved.
They hadn’t spent much time together, after all, and they truly weren’t that familiar with each other yet.
“Did you send a letter home earlier?” Cheng Baichuan asked.
He remembered that Li Wanqing was a local of Hunan Province, but he had never heard her mention her family.
Li Wanqing shook her head.
“I sent a letter to He Mei, a friend I knew from the educated youth compound.”
“I also asked her to pass a letter to Doctor Meng.”
“Doctor Meng?”
Cheng Baichuan vaguely remembered He Mei. She had even threatened him on his wedding day.
As for that Doctor Meng… he had no impression of him at all.
“He’s the old doctor at the brigade clinic. He’s friends with the director of the military district hospital. He asked me to bring him a letter before.”
“It wasn’t convenient for him to reply directly, so I passed it along for him.”
Li Wanqing didn’t hide anything.
She trusted that Cheng Baichuan wasn’t the kind of person who would gossip or stir up trouble.
Sure enough, Cheng Baichuan was only slightly surprised and didn’t ask anything else.
“I should have quite a bit of leave this time. Would you like to go back to Hunan Province and visit your parents?”
Their marriage had been arranged in such a hurry that he hadn’t even had time to visit his parents-in-law.
Since he would be recuperating this time, it would be a good opportunity to go see them.
Li Wanqing froze for a moment.
She had been in this world for so long that she had completely forgotten about those people!
After thinking carefully, she finally remembered them.
However, she had absolutely no affection for the original owner’s parents.
The original owner’s mother had died when she was very young.
Not long afterward, her father remarried.
Her stepmother brought along a daughter who was one year older than the original owner. After marrying into the Li family, the girl changed her surname to Li.
She even took a name similar to the original owner’s—Li Wanhua.
Once there was a stepmother, there was naturally a stepfather.
All of her father’s affection went to that daughter.
Especially after her stepmother gave birth to a son, the original owner became even more invisible in the family.
Li Wanhua loved showing off in front of the original owner about how much their father doted on her.
When they were young, the original owner would argue back and complain to her father.
But after experiencing favoritism again and again, she eventually learned to keep quiet.
There was no point saying anything anyway.
No one cared.
After both girls graduated from high school, the family had to arrange for one of them to go to the countryside.
Based on their ages, it should have been Li Wanhua no matter how you looked at it.
Yet her father insisted that the original owner be the one to go.
This time, the original owner was completely disappointed.
She agreed to go to the countryside on the condition that her family prepare enough money and ration coupons for her.
In return, she would no longer owe the family anything from that point onward.
Although they had never explicitly said they were severing ties, that was essentially what had happened.
The original owner had been sent to the countryside four years ago.
During those four years, her family had never contacted her.
For only the first six months, they had sent her money and supplies every month.
After that, nothing.
“No need. A long journey wouldn’t be good for your recovery. Besides, Nono and I just came here from Hunan, and we haven’t even recovered from the trip yet.”
Cheng Baichuan thought about it for a moment.
She was right. He really hadn’t considered that carefully enough.
“All right, then. We’ll go if we get the chance in the future.”
Li Wanqing nodded perfunctorily, but she had absolutely no intention of going back.
That family of the original owner’s had probably forgotten about her long ago.
However, life was unpredictable.
Li Wanqing never would have imagined that shortly after she left Renxing Brigade, her family would come looking for her there.
But after learning that she had already married and had taken her child to find the child’s father, they left with disappointed expressions.
Li Wanqing only learned about this later from a reply from He Mei.
She merely smiled when she heard about it.
The next day, when they were discharged from the hospital, Little Wu even brought two soldiers to help them.
“Hello, Sister-in-law!”
“Hello, Sister-in-law!”
The two powerful greetings the moment they met made Li Wanqing feel embarrassed instead.
“Hello! Hello! Hello, everyone!”
…
Just before they left the hospital, Doctor Huang gave them some good news.
The specialized rehabilitation equipment that had originally been scheduled to become available in half a month could now be used ahead of schedule.
“Go home and rest well. In five days, you’ll need to start coming here regularly for rehabilitation,” Doctor Huang instructed them.
“Doctor Huang, how did this suddenly get moved up so much?”
Li Wanqing asked in confusion.
At the mention of this, Doctor Huang became excited.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen this quickly. The hospital director personally ordered it yesterday.”
Originally, the inspection committee had refused to approve it, claiming that using imported equipment at their hospital was an act of blindly worshipping foreign things and showed problematic thinking.
But the hospital director had simply asked them a question, and they were immediately rendered speechless.
What was wrong with using advanced foreign equipment to save the lives of our country’s outstanding soldiers so that they could regain the ability to defend our borders against foreign enemies?
With just that one argument, the approval that had been held up for more than half a year finally went through.
Li Wanqing glanced at Cheng Baichuan.
Both of them looked surprised.
However, since Director Zhang hadn’t mentioned anything about it, they didn’t want to go to his home or office to thank him and accidentally bring him unnecessary trouble.
It took more than half an hour to drive from the military district hospital to the military district itself.
The farther west they went, the more noticeably the surroundings changed.
There were fewer and fewer houses and more and more mountains.
Nearly half the road wound through the mountains, and even Nono became dizzy from all the twists and turns.
When they finally reached the military district, even Li Wanqing let out a long sigh of relief.
It seemed she still needed some time to get used to the “charm” of winding mountain roads!
When they arrived at the family compound and got out of the car, two female soldiers approached them.
Dressed in green military uniforms, they looked especially spirited and valiant.
Li Wanqing was secretly admiring them when, without warning, her daughter’s inner voice startled her so badly that she almost lost her balance.
…